Rulers Who Were Actually Good - History Hijinks 

Cyrus: "Ok, here's the deal, I'll let you keep your religion, culture, language even local rulers." Locals: "What's the catch?" Cyrus: "Pay some taxes and don't rebel." Locals: "And?" Cyrus: "That's it." Locals: "What." Cyrus: "What?"

My favorite thing about Saladin is that contemporary Europeans thought he was so awesome they wrote fanfictions about him and Richard the Lionheart meeting and having chivalrous duels.

Try King Eystein of Norway. Not only did the guy build harbors, mountain inns and churches while his brother was out crusading, he was also a therapist for his own bodyguards

"Our protagonist... was born Yusuf ibin Ayub..." These names are typically rendered in English as "Joseph" and "Job". So for those of you keeping track, Saladin was, in fact, a JoJo.

People in those times: "Amazing conqueror. Very tactic yet respectful. Five stars. Would get conquered again"

I now imagine Cyrus sending all the gods/peoples to different areas and asking them if this place sparks joy

I wonder what would happen if a king faced with a prophecy of his doom at the hands of a child DIDN'T try to kill the child

Lmao Cyrus was like if bob ross was a kindergarten teacher managing A LOT of children. “Alright Timmy let’s put the statues back where they’re happier hmm?”

Saladin telling his soldiers not to disturb the newlyweds in the tower at the battle of Kerak: "Professionals have STANDARDS"

Not only did the Bible say that Cyrus was a pretty great guy, he's also the only non-Jewish person to be titled as a Messiah. As for Saladin, he was great and chivalrous. Richard the Lionheart was too. 2 great rulers who respected each other despite the war between them.

"Achaemenid Like A Wrecking Ball" I didn't think it was possible, but you just did it. You just won Historical Comedy for All Time.

Saladin heard a wedding happened in a castle and his first action was to order to not disturb the couple. "let this be a Fornication Under the Consent of an Sultan."

Saladin: Your stepdad is the worst and I'm trying to take him out. Order the siege! Also Saladin: Wait, you got married?! Look, I'm not going to mess up your wedding night, I'm not a monster!

Saladin is meme lord 100. Not only did let the newlyweds go at it in the tower, he also scolded Raynald. And then chopped his head off. What a guy

Rulers and being good at their job are not phrases that generally go together but here we are Edit: So it seems as though I've started a bit of drama (shocking, I know), so I'd like to clear a few things up. My comment was meant to be more about politicians than rulers, as well as the fact that perhaps you shouldn't judge ancient rulers on modern standards. I'd recommend reading RealmRabbit's comment as well! Good day! :)

Procrastinating an essay has never been so informative

OSP's Cyrus: "let's be friends everyone 😊 I just want to make my subjects happy!" Civ 6's Cyrus: "have you heard about something called a Suprise War?"

Saladin was smart, he knew that if he continued the denial of christian pilgrims to the holy lands, the crusades would just happen again and again and again, and any good tactician knows that it can be hard to differentiate genius with luck and incompetent adversaries and that even a genius can make a collossal mistake against another great tactician, and that is a chance Saladin would be unlikely to make. by granting access to christian pilgrims to the holy land not only had he made the land richer because these pilgrims would be buying stuff like supplies and lodging and trinkets to take back home, but he also helped to secure it by addressing arguably the chief concern that motivated the crusaders to invade in the first place.

That’s actually pretty humorous that Saladin, while besieging a castle, was polite enough to make sure the happy couple were able to get down to business with one another in the tower. He had plenty of beef with the stepdad, but he wasn’t about to ruin the groom’s evening.

"if youre gonna be an authoritarian at least be a nice one" - Blue, today's video

"Be strong! Strong like Salah ad-Din!" from an Assassin's Creed NPC was clearly mistranslated. The actual translation is, "Be chill! Chill like Salah ad-Din!"

Basically rule one for rulers. Remember you're ruling a bunch of individuals not a bunch of numbers on a tablet.

3:40 that joke works even better when you think that the singer was Miley CYRUS

The kind of adversaries needed not only for one of them send his doctor to help, but also for the other one to TRUST this was not going to end in poisoning is seldom seen amongst kings.

This is one of the reasons why I love this channel, even though Blue has a clear Italian and Greek bias in history, he still recognizes that other civilizations had really cool accomplishments, and compares how they were to how they're treated by western historians. Thank you so much Blue, you've helped me find out that I love the Akamanid Persian empire as much as I love New Kingdom Egypt. Your videos are amazing!

Cyrus and Saladin both had one over arching goal when it came to dealing with people " Respect everyone like your brothers and sisters but deal with the ones who behave badly "

To everyone angry that some figures weren’t covered in this video: there’s a very real possibility that we’ll see more videos like it, ESPECIALLY if it does well, so don’t despair! For now, just appreciate the cool kings and get hyped for more.

I am suprised Blue did not mention that Dante in the Divine Comedy put Saladin in Limbo, with the other "Virtuous Pagens" like you know...Virgil.

We NEED this to be a series As Mr Rogers would say, quoting his mom, "Always look for the helpers"

There's a disturbing lack of Marcus Aurelius and Dom Pedro II here... Also, the chivalrous bromance between arch-frenemies Richard Lionheart and Saladin would make an excellent video all on its own.

This was so unexpectedly wholesome...

Blue: Cyrus conquered the MEDIA and created the Achaemenid Empire. Me: I guess that's why he gets all the good press.

Saladin's adorable af, imagine being so chivalrous and downright NICE that your political adversaries whose main beef with you is religion still write nice things about you

About Saladin: "If he punched you, you would have to fight the overwhelming urge to thank him."

Saladin was incredibly intelligent to allow the pilgrims to come in. They have money, money they would spend on food and lodging. This is the ancient equivalent of tourism revenue. Not to forget, trying to build a positive relationship with rival nations. Peaceful coexistence is always the better option.

Finally, a video on both of the good rulers in history.

Blue dunking on the Crusades and the Deus Vult meme is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

I think king sejong deserves a glance if we're doing good rulers. Developed the Korean alphabet, loved science, and prioritized the well being of his farmers over his highest paid court officials during a drought.

Blue: This whole thing historians do by focusing on specific rulers sucks(justifies this thought well). Blue: *So here’s a video on two funky fresh rulers*

"Just because he was at war didn't mean he had to be a jerk about it" is my new spirit animal.

This has to become a series. It probably will be a short one, but yeah.

In his Inferno, Dante put Saladin in the ‘not terrible but also not great’ Limbo where the best non-Christians got to go.

"...recent history is getting to me." No worries blue, I think we understand

Funny thing about Thomas Jefferson is that he was a huge fan of Cyrus the Great. He even had the book Cyropaedia by Xenophon which was a somewhat fictional biography of Cyrus and the Achaemenid Empire.

"Don't be a jerk even if you are fighting a war " Saladin

I like to believe that during the siege of Kerak, Saladin said “if that tower is a rockin, do not come a knockin.”

“It is hard for a good man to be king.” -T’Chaka

Saladin: like yeah I might well wanna drive the Christians from these lands Saladin: but I'm not a COCKBLOCKER

“Shut up and Pay up!” Someone should make that a T-shirt. 😆😂

“History’s Biggest A-Holes” (or “History’s Biggest Problematic Faves” if you want to avoid getting demonetized) sounds like it could be a good subject for a video.

@5:51 it makes me so happy that the Arabic text was in correct direction and the letters have the correct form!

Saladin has always been one of my favorite rulers to research, there’s always one thing fascinating to find out about him

Remember: if a politician ever evokes Julius Caesar or Napoleon or anyone like them, RUN.

7:13 So Saladin decided NOT to pull off The Red Wedding?! Kudos to him.

9:00 Saladin was probably the only person who liked Richard the Lionheart, he was so annoying that all the other crusaders went home just to get away from him

Your comment about the Mandate of Heaven really interested me, because when I was studying Zoroastrianism I noted that Mazdean kings justified their kingship in a really similar way to the Mandate of Heaven. There’s even a symbol that starts to show up in and following the Achaemenid called the fehr (if I remember how to spell it) that represents the divine right of the king to rule, and when a new king wanted to justify his rule upon overthrowing the previous ruler, he would often commission written or visual works depicting the fehr leaving the previous king and moving to his side-much how new Chinese emperors would lean to the shifting Mandate of Heaven to start morally solidifying their rule! To me the most interesting part is how in both cases this arose from similarities in the belief system. In China, the Mandate tracks back to the shamanic beliefs and shaman kings of early China, whose job was in part to be a conduit for the wisdom of Heaven, tapping into that resource to produce prosperity for the kingdom; if you couldn’t provide for your people, you weren’t connected to Heaven anymore-you had lost its favor-and thus were unfit to rule. Similarly, in Mazda worship, bringing increase and prosperity is seen as a morally good action in a cosmic sense that brings the war between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu closer to its resolution. And so there is an idea that a good ruler brings prosperity, spiritual wellness, and a bad one brings chaos, disorder, and misfortune, not just through policies but also physically on the land through his moral presence. I think we begin see the concept that would come to be embodied by the fehr rise out of this philosophy at the time-first with Cyrus the Great claiming a moral dimension to his victory over the Babylonians, and then through Darius I’s attempt to re-legitimize his line when overthrowing a usurper, where he takes Cyrus’s logic and runs with it, claiming Ahura Mazda delivered him to victory in the interest of securing prosperity for the empire through his moral righteousness. Both cultures had a concept of a transformative moral force that would pass from their deities through the ruler and into the state, both came to use it to morally explain power changing hands by framing it in the context of bringing the people prosperity, and both developed a concept of a divine right to rule that could be maintained or lost through the quality of your kingship. It’s a really cool example of convergent evolution!

This was surprisingly wholesome (I've always been a fan of Saladin's respect for others).

Week 1 of asking for these collabs (I only do Red's cause I have no idea for whom to feature with Blue, feel free to leave suggestions ^^) So, for Red : - Terrible Writing Advice : Trope Talk on Crossovers - Xiran Jay Zhao : Journey to The West ep.9 - The Mythology Guy : Miscellaneous Myths taking a deep dive on an olympian god (Athena, Artemis & Apollo or Ares would be fun) + Blue has already made a Trope Talk, have Red make a history video EDIT : It would also be fun to see Cyan make a video about whatever subject she wants

3:57 Personally My Favourite Of His Epithets Was "King Of The Four Corners Of The World".

can you imagine how much of a cool dude you have to be to your enemies' historians write praises about you

Ya know I love listening to blue and red a lot. They could talk about nearly anything and I'd listen to it

"Boy it's amazing what happens when you actually try." Tell me about it!

"And I rode with Saladin and his swift Arabians, facing doomed Crusaders on their heavy drafts."

Thank you for this video. I've been feeling rather pessimistic about humanity lately and this was a much needed ray of optimism

Honestly "The Ideal King" sounds like such a cool title

"...which lands us in the Holy Lands in the middle of the Crusades, so I'm already not having fun." Mood. Also same.

It's so nice to hear about mostly good people in history. As you pointed out, there was the conquest and war stuff, but they weren't jerks about it. And yeah, I think recent history is getting to all of us...

Blue: **calls Columbus an asshole** People who’ve played FGO Agartha: “We agree. He’s the biggest asshole.”

I was just talking to a friend about how my favorite historical figures are Cyrus and Saladin because they're easily the best and most moral people... for conquerors.

Earliest I've ever been. Procrastination for the win!

Its amazing what can happen when you respect the cultures and lives of your subjects.

4:35 Minor correction. The books of Nehemiah and Ezra. Isaiah was written before the Babylonian captivity.

Reject glory, embrace competency

Could you do a video on postal systems through history, taking a close look at the Persian postal service, one of the greatest postal systems of all time!

This was a nice change of pace. I like to see good historical figures.

Stories like these are what remind me, even if and when people really are open books and can never change, there still are those who are both good and great at the same time. It’s one thing to say you’re great, it’s another to make people believe you’re great, but it takes the right actions and intentions to BE great...

Please, please, do more of this. It’s nice to find that not every historic figure on record was... morally lackluster/bankrupt. Kinda reinforces one’s faith in humanity for when it comes to using power for good/evil.

I would like to add Casimir the Great to this list There's a reason he's the only Polish ruler called "the Great" and it's not because everyone else was terrible

I look forward to when this video gets a sequel... restores my faith in people as a whole.

It really does say something when the real unexpected hijinks are when people actually do nice things in history.

I didn't know Cyrus' history, but I WAS aware of a lot of the good things said about Saladin. So thank you, you have taught me a learning.

man, I remember taking AP World History and everyone just stanning Cyrus, good times

Ah, rulers who actually have higher wisdom than charisma.

It's interesting that both are Iranians🇮🇷(persians and kurds are both Iranian people)

Cyrus is considered a hero in Jewish culture and it’s not uncommon for Persian Jews to name their children after him

Cyrus the Great: so good that a character is created just to make Cyrus a bad guy.

I always respect men who conduct war in a civilized manner. They remind me of me!

"Great Man History is stupid and I hate it" Blue speaking directly to my soul

This was fantastic! I'd read about him being referenced in a children's history novel (so thought it was just fiction), stoked to find out its real! Looking forward to seeing more. I hope napoleon's brother might get an honourable mention sometimes, he was the best when ruling over the Netherlands (attempting to learn the language is often the only thing most people know about him, his greeting the population saying " I am your rabbit"-the word for that (konijn) is close to the word for King (koning)-, but he did a lot welfare wise, and got so popular that there was outrage when this king (that wasn't originally wanted)got removed by Napoleon

Antoninus Pius, when you are surrounded by Trajan and his conquest, Hadrian and his wall and followed by Mark Aurelius...people tend to forget you and you peaceful well manage time...

Ironically, I came here right after watching Blue's video on Sun Tzu and how the Art of War was filled with seemingly obvious advice like "make sure your soldiers are properly fed", just in time to hear about the Crusader Army sallying out into the hot desert without bringing enough water....

Ah yes. The True Rulers of Everything.

Wow, Cyrus has got to be the second most wholesome conquerer I've ever seen. If you've watched A:TLA, then no points for guessing who.

Definitely glad you're making a series out of this, Blue! Looking forward to maybe seeing Bayezid II "the Just" in a future episode!

A faint, familiar whisper echoes in your ear "There is no ethical rulership under a monarchy"

The vast majority of morally upright rulers have one big thing in common. Their good character lost them their lives. A truly good person never rules for long.

Cyrus' wisdom sure went south when Team Galactic happened

Richard and Saladin would never meet formally and both would go on to voice their regrets at never meeting what in their eyes was the perfect match for them as tacticians.

I learned of Cyrus and Saladin through the Civilization games.

If you just look at the date Cyrus the great lived in you can instantly see he was way ahead of his time